The More Things Change
by phantomArtemis24
Summary: Sequel to The Real Roy Harper also by me-Not much to say.What happens to Speedy once he's found.And the real story behind Madison. Arsenal/OC. Anyway read The Real Roy Harper first it's MAJOR stuff.
1. The more they stay the same

The More Things Change: Chapter One

**Arsenal's POV:**

_Everything was different now. Everything would change._

Madz tried to convince me to stop the superhero game. After everything with her dad and lots of other stuff happening since the five years ago when we were found. She wanted to stop. I think that Wally and Artemis leaving really made her think too. She wanted to settle down and have a normal life, one that she never got to have because of her powers and her dad.

Batman well he didn't like that idea, I wasn't completely against it I just wasn't ready yet. I spent years of my life on ice and I never really got to be a real superhero. Batman wanted Madison to become part of the bat family. Madison's response to that was as follows, "You hid me away from Dick for longer than I can remember. You didn't want me in your family then and I'm not going to be part of it now."

It was about that time that Batgirl joined the bat family and Madison well— she quit the team. Her dad quit trying to have a relationship with her, but Nightwing he never quit. Even after his growth spurt he still wanted to be her little brother.

This led to Madison blocking everybody out and it happened not long after Tula died. When Tula died Kaldur went rogue. It kind of tore the team apart. And Madison she was really close to Tula, one could say she was her other best friend, and for Madz, that was something. People weren't really her thing.

The first change I noticed in her was she stopped practicing with Nightwing. There were days when all they did was battle it out on the practice mats and then she just stopped. She stopped talking to everyone on the team, everyone except for me and Wally. I mean Wally? Really?

All of this was one year ago. Now, Artemis was dead too. Now, Madison was who knows where. She left again, when she promised me she wouldn't. She promised. And no one knew where she was. Ever since the two of us split off from the team, because that's what she wanted. She kept getting farther away. At first farther from the team and then, finally, from me. And she left just like that, no good bye or anything. I was crushed. She was my rock, the one person who kept me from going insane. We kept each other from going insane. I wouldn't accept that she was gone forever. I would search for her like she searched for me.

Still keeping up the hope that I would find her, I continued looking. After six months when she didn't come back most of us assumed she was dead. Even Batman told me to give up, but I wouldn't. I loved her— more than anything.

~0~

"Hey dude," I said to Nightwing. He nodded, he was listening to Batman. He'd called me in for a mission, a big mission. Almost the entire League was in on it.

"Nice that you could join us, Roy." Canary said to me. Batman, Canary, and the entire Young Justice team were there not including Lagoon boy or the other Roy. No one was really sure where he was, he came in and out. Mostly just to hang out with Oliver. Oliver and I weren't on speaking terms at the moment. Not since I came back actually. It was sort of his fault for me being on ice so long. He barely even looked for me, unlike Madz, he gave up on me.

"We are mounting an attack on the underwater base we found. We have reason to believe that Lagoon boy was taken there after his capture. Myself, Aquaman, Canary, Green Arrow, and Superman will also take part in the mission. A small team will infiltrate the base and find Lagoon Boy, while a larger group will mount an offense as a decoy," Batman said.

Nightwing stepped up, "The team going after Lagoon boy will be me, Batgirl, Miss Martian, Arsenal, and Bee. We will be team Beta. Team Gamma is going in for recon only. Finding us any useful data then getting out. Robin, Beast boy, Blue Beatle, and Impulse, that's you. Team Alpha is everyone else they'll be with Batman, who'll be leading the attack on the base."

"Yes!" Cassie exclaimed. She was almost too happy about being on Alpha.

"We are leaving in one hour, be ready." Batman said walking off. Everyone else went on their separate ways as well, getting ready for the mission.

I just stood there. I wasn't exactly sure why Nightwing wanted me. I don't know how much help I could be on this mission and I was still looking Madison.

"You're wondering why I asked you to come. Aren't you?" Nightwing said creeping up behind me.

"Yeah, I kind of am."

He sighed, "I got a distress signal from Trace." My eyes got wide. Trace? That was Madison.

"Madz? You found her. Is she okay?" I said urgently. I needed to know if she was all right. I had too. Even the few seconds of suspense was killing me.

"I don't know. It was a distress signal so maybe, but you can never know, knowing her. She was the reason we found the base. When we traced the signal back, that's where it was." He paused, "Is it wrong that I'm worried about her?"

"No. I'm always worried about her. I think it's impossible not to be," I said.

Our conversation ended and it wasn't long until we left on the mission. I was going to see her again. And no matter what it took, if she was in trouble or even if she didn't want to come home. I would make her. I would save her. I don't think I could take it if anything bad happened to her not after what we'd been through. I needed her to be safe, with me. And I would never let her run off again, never let her go from me.


	2. Getting caught is easy

**Chapter 2: Getting caught is easy…**

**Madison's POV: **

I was nine when my father sent me away. He was afraid of my abilities. He didn't think I noticed, but I did. Alfred said that he couldn't be with me because he was busy. He was always busy.

I could do things. Things he didn't understand. Once when I was five he took me to a circus and I ended up doing a daredevil dive off the trapeze because I shook hands with one of the performers. I learned most of what I know that way.

Soon as I was old enough he sent me off with Wonder woman and the Amazons. I spent three years running around on an island with a bunch of lunatic women. Yeah hunting wild boars and the whole girl power thing was fun for a while, but it kept dredging up the fact that my father left me there. Most of the younger girls hated me too. They acted as if I was a disease, brought in from the mainland on a breeze. And maybe I was. I wasn't like them. I could only be strong because they were. I was nothing without other metahumans, without other humans in general.

I was nothing without others.

And then I met Roy. He taught me how to be my own person. Best lesson I ever learned.

~0~

To my left three green aliens were communicating in some clicking language. "Click-click-clack."

_What kind of language is that?_

I guess I was about to find out. One of them gave a nod and starting walking towards my hiding place. As he passed I let one hand brush up against his hand. Light enough so that he wouldn't feel it but just enough to copy all of his abilities. And their language came rushing through my brain. It was like a bomb went off, all their odd jargons.

_Poundage! That hurts._

I sunk down to the floor and tried to shift though all the information the alien had given me. Powers, abilities, you'd be surprised how much they say about a person.

"Any that do not produce, dispose of."

"Of course." One was apparently the alien equivalent of a girl and seemed to be the more scientific of the two. She picked up a syringe tapping out the bubbles. "What of the others?"

"Continue testing."

"Yes," She grinned. Over in the corner I saw five red pods lined up. Each had a kid in them. Like cattle being led to slaughter. I could see how scared they were even with their eyes closed. How could someone justify testing on humans? Oh, that's right they aren't human.

_I hate aliens, _I groaned.

"We have a stowaway."

"Sorry," I jumped. The boy alien had snuck up on me while I was thinking. "I'm…uh…lost."

"Then we offer you our _reach_ and _gratitude_."

_I'm so dead._


	3. Guardian Gossip

**Chapter 3: Guardian Gossip**

**Madison's POV:**

Sitting there in the red of room the Reach had been kind enough to put me in, instead of one of those pods, I had a few epiphanies. I think after Tula died, Artemis and I both realized we never really could leave the life. Being a superhero was a lifestyle and you stay in it until you die or go mad. It was a drug that your world gravitated around. We were the moon and our abilities the world. Artemis had it easier than me. She didn't have any metahuman abilities. She didn't feel the need to use them or the rush to take on the powers of another.

It was empowering the surge of energy and each power held a new flood of medication. Superboy's was the best. He made me feel warm with his touch as if the sun was standing beside me whispering happiness into my ear. It was intoxicating. And that is why I couldn't stop. I had to be near people with abilities or I felt like I would die. I fed off their power. I needed it. Roy's abilities just weren't enough anymore.

They weren't enough…

~0~

**The Green Lantern Council 23 years ago…**

"The Key must be protected," Basilus slammed his fist down. The Green Lantern Guardians were holding a council to decide the fate of Aurelia, the infant princess of the Symbiote race.

"Obviously, Basilus. Isn't that why we are holding this council?" Lianna sighed. Basilus' arrogance was getting on her nerves.

"That is not what I meant, Lianna."

"Than what did you mean?" Ranakar was eager to move this along. He had many experiments to conduct which could not wait. He didn't understand why this subject was so important. The Guardians had already dealt with this matter a year ago when the Reach conquered the world of Symbiosis. The Lanterns had fought hard to protect the planet but the Reach had already infiltrated it and the world was too far gone. The Lanterns only success was in escorting the Queen and harbinger of the key, Auro'ra Timur, off the planet. If you asked Ranakar that key was causing more trouble than it was worth. "If you ask me this is entirely pointless. Auro'ra sealed her own fate when she fraternized with the Bat."

"Yes, but we must continue to protect the key. It is absolutely necessary that the Reach does not acquire it. Nor any other of our enemies and Earth is not safe enough."

"Earth is perfectly safe, Basilus." Herupa interrupted waving Basilus off. They hid the key within the Line of Symbiosis royalty centuries ago. They were the only ones perfectly suited to combat any and all enemies. That was until the Reach caught them in a peaceful age where only a few champions still had the power of mimicry.

"We thought Symbiosis was safe. And since have learned it was not." Lianna decided she had to be the voice of reason. Herupa was even more disagreeable than Basilus. And they were both uncontained.

"That is exactly what I am trying to say. Earth is a planet of savages. And without her mother the child will surely suffer. No human is qualified to keep her and the key safe."

"You want her brought here? Is that what you want, Basilus?" Lianna was finally seeing where Basilus was going with this. It had been three maybe four Earth days since the news reached Oa. Queen Auro'ra had died in childbirth and her daughter, a half-blood Symbiote, was left to her father. Aurelia would have to grow up without a mother, but for the Gaurdians to also deny her a father was not something Lianna would stand for. Lianna stood up on her pedestal quickly becoming the tallest Guardian in the room, which wasn't that difficult. None of them were all that big. "I will not take the girl from her father. Has Earth not brought us many heroes? The humans are not as savage as we once believed and are keepers of the one of the largest cashes of willpower in the known universe. The Bat will keep her safe. Does anyone deny this?" The others said nothing. Lianna sat back down, "That is what I thought."

Then Herupa grunted, "What happens when she reaches the final stage? What if she has the power of mimicry? We are all aware of why the Symbiotes discontinued breeding their champions."

"Hmm…" Ranakar stroked his chin thoughtfully, "I agree with Herupa. The child may yet show the signs. What then? She must be taught how to use her abilities."

"Yes, we cannot have a repeat of Torran the Enabler. And I believe—the Amazons may be of use," Lianna suggested. "They have championed many heroines."

"All I am worried about is the key," Pazu finally spoke in a slow and deliberate draw. He had been biding his time to see where this would go. "As many of you have seem to forgotten, the key the child holds opens the Forge of Creation. It holds unimaginable power. More even than our race ever has. Earth may be safe for her, but Forge is what we must protect."

Basilus stood as if the rest of the Guardians were to bask in his glory. "Then we shall send some Lanterns to guard it."

"You are forgetting one thing, Basilus," Lianna sighed. "We do not know where it is."

~0~

**Arsenal's POV:**

"She wasn't there." I kicked a table across the living room. The mission had been a bust. Madison was nowhere to be found. Yeah, maybe we saved a few runaways, but they were not my problem. "You said she was there." I yelled at Nightwing. He failed to react.

"The transmission came from there. I thought—"

"You thought? She was taken by the Reach and who knows where they've taken her." I threw my hands up in the air. He was her brother. It was like he didn't even care that those—things had her. Both of us had already been kidnapped once. I would not let our relationship go through that again.

"We'll find her Roy. I promise."

"You Promise? Okay. Then why aren't you looking for her right now!" I started pacing the room. A thousand thoughts were racing through my head. _Is she okay? What have they done to her? How badly am I going to pound the Reach scum who took her?_

"We are doing all we can. Oliver is following some leads Batman found and—"

"Because Oliver is so qualified to look for her? He was the one who lost her last time, lost us." I ran my fingers though my hair still pacing. Why wasn't Nightwing as torn up about this as I was?

"Roy, I know you won't believe this, but Oliver cares about her too. Both of you. He went looking for you as soon as he found out you were gone."

I stopped, "And then he gave up."

He put a hand on my shoulder, "We will find my sister. Neither of us will ever give up. That I know."


	4. What they'll do

**Chapter 4: What they'll do…**

**Madison's POV:**

It was beginning to physically hurt.

I had been without touching another being for two or three weeks. I mean who can really remember. There was no telling time in here. With no one to feed off of I became so hungry, mentally and my actual stomach. If a brain could spoil, mine was. My body needed the energy I took from others. I could hardly take it and I swear I started to hallucinate. There was this woman and she kept telling me to keep something safe, but soon after that my body went completely against me and nothing made sense. My head pounded and my stomach lurched with every movement. The room smelled from being in there so long and they refused to clean it out when I upchucked. Each thought was painful and laborious. Somehow the room kept getting smaller on me, taunting me. Saying that there was no way I was going to get out of here because the Reach enjoyed my pain.

"Please," I said banging on where I thought the door was. Who could be sure though? I had seen the room spin too many times to be positive. "Let me out. Just let me go." I continued hitting the door, but no one came.

My fists became numb as the pounding became weaker. _Was I even the one hitting the door anymore? Or was it my imagination? _ I just needed someone anyone to come in, to touch them. It could be Roy for all I cared. I was desperate and detoxing just wasn't an option for me. It hurt too much.

A halo of gas surrounded my head. It poured out of the vents like a noxious waterfall and into my lungs. Pounding on the door one last time my strength left me and I slid to the floor hugging my knees to my chest. "I'll do anything." Silently as if in a dream I slipped away. Consumed by the knockout gas.

~0~

"We offer you our _gratitude_, Meat." Above me stood the Reach Ambassador, looking into my eyes with pure delight. "You are the key."

_Why me?_

The Reach Scientist had me strapped down like a lab rat with needles up and down my arms. Whatever they were doing to me felt like they were sucking out the little bit of power I had left. And they had been careful not to touch me when they'd moved me from my prison. Somehow they knew what I was capable of. "I'm not your toy." I spat at him. The effort made me want to heave again.

"Indeed. But you are a Symbiote. Perhaps the last surviving and you are the key."

"The key to what, Bug-face?" I had never heard of a Symbiote. Who was he to call me one?

"Your powers, Meat, they are perfect for breeding more…Metas." The scientist clicked over in the corner as she mixed together vials of, no doubt, toxic chemicals.

"Breeding?" I gulped. The only breeding I was going to do would be with Roy, if I ever got back to him.

"Yes, eventually. If we are unable to—mimic your abilities." The Ambassador grinned. "But so far the process is working perfectly."

"Is it? I'm so glad to hear that."

"Do not talk back, Meat. Or I shall make your kind truly extinct. We do not need you alive to copy your powers."

"We do not?" The Scientist turned.

"We do not," he affirmed.

"Look, I don't even know what a Symbiote is. So teasing me with killing my so called race isn't going to work out well."

"You do not know your own lineage, _disappointment_."

"I am human or as you call us _Meat_ not Symbiote."

He stared at me grinning, "No, you are not."

~0~

**Arsenal's POV:**

"We found her…"

"You did? About time."

"Yes, I told you we would."

"Um… thanks, Nightwing."

"She_ is_ my sister."

"Yeah—so where is she?"

"Sector 2, the Reach's home planet."


	5. when they find me

**Chapter 5: …when they find me.**

**Arsenal's POV:**

"Why is this taking so long?" I whined crossing my arms and propping my feet up on the bio-ship. Sector two was basically the end of the universe. But that didn't matter. I would go to the end of all universes for Madison.

Nightwing sighed, "Sector two is far away. But we should be there soon."

"Why didn't we take a boom tube? Wouldn't that have been faster?"

"Probably, but we couldn't take one directly onto the planet without the Reach noticing. The bio-ship is going to drop us off and we'll use this to take a boom tube back." He held up a small device meant to summon boom tubes. It was our way back home after we got Madison. "And we did use one to get close, remember?"

Madison. I had to believe she was okay. I felt so stupid for letting her get caught. Again. We'd lost years of our lives and I would not let that happen to us again. We were finally getting back to normal. Finally out of the superhero game and she had to go back in. _Why?_

"What if we get caught?"

Nightwing looked over at me. "We won't, just don't do anything stupid."

"Me do something stupid? Unlikely."

~0~

**Three hours later: Sector two**

"That planet— it's huge. She could be anywhere." I gawked at the red and brown hued planet looming in front of us. "We'll never find her."

"We won't give up that easily." Nightwing banked the bio-ship to the left. "We're entering hostile airspace."

"Don't kid yourself Nightwing we've been in hostile airspace since we left earth." I said. Batman didn't exactly condone our mission to save her. He told Nightwing that they would go after Madison after the business with the League and the missing hours was done and over with. Then the entire League would sponsor a mission to get her. Nightwing and I thought that would take too long. Batman put up a futile attempt to stop us. Although he didn't try very hard if he had we wouldn't have gotten this far. He wanted us to go after her.

Somehow we made it onto the planet. We jumped out of the bio-ship in an area full of dead trees. "Why are all the trees dead?"

Nightwing shrugged, "It looks like there was some kind of war. Everything around here is either dead or dying. Quite the puzzle."

"There are buildings over there. Do you have her signal?"

"Yeah, three clicks west, towards the city. I still don't know how we are going to get in unseen."

"Don't worry about it." We switched our suits to stealth mode. "Let's go."

Getting to the building where Madison's tracker was located proved easier than expected. There was civilian Reach around, but hardly any soldiers. Then we entered what I deemed the Research bubble, because that's what it was. The majority of the buildings were propped up off the ground and circular in shape. The city seemed to live up in the clouds and below was a glorified slum. The people there looked broken. _How could the Reach let their people suffer like this?_

"So what, we just climb up there and break her out?" I said.

"It's not going to be that simple."

"It'll do."

The alarm went off as soon as we made it inside.

"What now?"

"There." Nightwing dashed towards an open door slipping through as it was closing. Red lights flashed all around us, my heart raced. How could we be so stupid to think they wouldn't detect us? "We have to get out of here." Nightwing shoved me up against the wall as soldiers ran past.

"No, I'm not leaving without Madison."

"Fine, but don't do anything rash. We have to be chalont about this."

"Whatever. Are we close?"

"Her signal's coming from behind that door."

"Let's go." I pushed past him and kicked in the door leading to Madison. My pulse was beating so fast I thought I was going to pass out, but I wasn't going to lose her.

She was strapped down to a table. No one else was there but her. She was barely breathing and hooked up to a bunch of strange machines with needles in her arms. "Madison?"

"Don't touch her," Nightwing burst into the room, "We don't know what they do. It could hurt her."

"Madz." I breathed. I wanted to take her into my arms and never let her go. _Was this how she felt when she found me half-alive in that pod?_ My head pounded, heart raced, I was sweating like a dog, and I was so anxious I thought I might chew my bottom lip off. It was all I could do to just stand there and watch Nightwing take each needle out one by one.

"Okay," He said once he was done. "Let's go."

"But she's not even awake?"

"We can't wait."

Suddenly Madison's eyes flew open and she took ahold of Nightwing's neck. "What are you doing?" He gasped his eyes shrinking to pinpoints.

"It's not enough." She croaked out hoarsely jumping off the table.

"Madz, what are you talking about?" I shouted at her, but she didn't seem to hear me. She was in another universe. _What had the Reach done to her?_

She reached over and touched my shoulder. I felt a sudden jolt of pain and jumped, like somebody just dragged their socks on the carpet and decided to give you a shock. "Roy, we have to get out of here."

"I know."

NIghtwing had fallen to the ground and was still trying to catch his breath after whatever she had done to him. _Was it her powers? Her powers never acted like that before. It shouldn't hurt_. "We need to get somewhere open—for the boom tube," he huffed.

"Okay," I took a hold of Madison's arm, "Let's go."

But Madison stuck to her spot. "Roy, you don't get it."

"Am I missing something here? Don't you want to get off this Reach rock?" I glanced over at Nightwing. He seemed clueless too.

"What's wrong Madison?" He asked her.

"I can't go back. I want to leave, but I can't go back home."

"That doesn't make any sense?"

"Roy, please—just –I can't."

"Maybe," Nightwing said moving in to place his hand on her shoulder, "If you told us why we'd understand."

She pulled back from his reach her eyes wild with fear. "I didn't mean to hurt you before. I'm sorry."

"That was an accident." I said, "Wasn't it?"

"Yes and no. And it's why I can't go back. Being here, whatever the heck they did to me," She threw her hands up and I saw all scars from countless needles and tests the Reach had ran on her. I felt useless to what she was going through right now. I steeled my nerves. I had to focus on understanding.

"I can't stop it." She continued. "My powers they've evolved somehow. I need the energy and abilities I take from people now, before I didn't." She faded out for a moment. Whatever she was about to say she didn't want to. "And I don't know what will happen if I get too much. Going home to all those heroes with—delicious abilities—Roy I can't. I've become a monster. Earth is too much temptation." She put her face in her hands.

"Once we get home. We'll deal with your problems then." I pulled her into my arms, ignoring the small jolts of electricity going up and down my arms at every point we touched. "Get this into your head, Madz. I am not losing you. I am not leaving you. I love you." I kissed her. With everything I had, trying in that moment to make her understand how much I needed her. _And how far I had gone to be with her. _

"We need to go." Nightwing said interrupting us. Madison backed away and nodded, but the look on her face said she still wasn't convinced.

We crept down hallways looking for a big enough area to use the boom-tube. All the while I held Madison's hand. No matter how many little electric shocks her powers gave me or the fact that I seemed to be getting really tired, I held on. She needed to know I wasn't going to let her go. Monster or not our hands would stay intertwined.

"There." Nightwing said, "That should be good enough." He motioned towards what appeared to be a common area and it was filled with Reach Soldiers and Black Beetle.

He saw us immediately and in his curdled English he laughed, "Meat is so predictable. Excuse me—two Meats and a Symbiote." Madison flinched as he smiled. As if he knew something I didn't.

"We need to run." Madison said quietly.

"That will not help you." Black beetle clicked.

"Duck," Nightwing yelled. We all dove to the ground as Black beetle sent a shockwave at us. Sadly the doorway behind us collapsed and down went the only exit not blocked by Reach cronies.

I rolled out of the way as Black sent more projectiles our way. To my right Madison was taking the blunt of the Reach's forces. She wasn't going to last much longer and neither were we if we kept dodging. I rolled landing beside Nightwing. "We can't take him head on." I said.

"And we have to get to Madison so we can use the Boom-tube."

"I'll take Black, if you help Madison."

"I've got her." Nightwing rolled his eyes, "this day just keeps pouring on the aster." He kicked a few heads in as he made his way over to Madison. Black smiled at me.

"Revenge will be sweet," I said sending a volley of laser blasts in his direction.

~0~

I was busy battling Black beetle when as Nightwing says "aster struck." The ceiling shook and I thought maybe Black beetle exploded himself, but no. It was Madison.

Nightwing lay on the floor, I couldn't tell why, but he certainly was out of it. Madison stood protectively over him holding a weapon she'd taken from a downed Reach. The boom tube controller was in her hand; it looked like Nightwing had tried to use it before he passed out and she took it from him.

"Not my brother." Madison spoke in a cool even voice. It hardly sounded like her.

"Resistance is futile, Symbiote." Black beetle clicked.

"You hurt me, Black. I will not let you hurt him too."

She aimed the weapon at Black and sent a laser beam straight for him. It never got to him. He sent another beam which blasted her puny attempt at a laser away. I started running for her as soon as I saw what was about to happen.

Madison slammed into the wall behind her, but she didn't seem hurt. But she was different. It wasn't her. She started laughing.

It was a hysterical laugh as if she had no idea why she was busting up, but she could stop either. "I learned a lot from Mr. Ambassador Bloke about my race. The Symbiotes can do a lot of things Black Bee—eetle. We can also convert energy beams into the power we use to fuel ourselves, just like we copy the abilities of others."

Black smiled at her. "I know, little Symbiote champion. Sadly, you don't know the consequences of doing that."

"What—?" Madison barely got the word out.

Her eyes went blank like a switch went off in her brain and she fell as an electrical pulse went down her arm to the boom tube controller. It sparked. "No," I yelled. That was out last hope. With Nightwing passed out on the floor and Black beetle closing in that was it. Our way home was gone.

As if she knew what I was thinking Madison looked over at me, but it was a piercing stare one that went straight through me. "It's okay," she said, "I'm going home."

A portal opened up underneath us and the three of us were swallowed hole.


	6. Symbiosis

**Chapter 6: Symbiosis**

**Arsenal's POV:**

Where we landed, wasn't earth. It didn't look like it had been anywhere for a long time. Blue sand covered the planet in an expansive desert as far as the eye could see. As a yellow sun bore down from above I started to sweat immediately. It was hotter here than anywhere on Earth.

"Where are we?" I asked no one in particular. The sun burned hot in my eyes. _Where's Madison? _

I called for her or for Nightwing neither answered my plea. Standing up unsteadily I fell three times in the sand. The ground felt unstable like there were holes hidden beneath the sand. "Madison!"

I began walking towards what looked like buildings. They dotted the horizon. Why anyone would want to live here I may never know. It was more miserable and desolate than Death Valley.

The sun ran higher in the sky. Instead of setting like ours does it seemed to get farther away. Slowly shrinking to a pinpoint and then just hanging there. It may be farther away but it was no less intense.

The buildings unlike the sun got closer and became clearer. They reached high up into the clouds with ceilings like small domes. The most magnificent looked like it was built by the same people who had constructed the Taj Mahal on earth. Completely made of white marble, it amplified the beauty of the others around it. It almost made all this bearable.

Madison was already so broken. I don't know what pushed her to take us to this planet. Was it what they did to her? Making her need to _feed_— No I don't like that word. I wish there was a better way to put it. It's just there isn't. No matter what she thought she wasn't a monster. I had to convince her of that. A monster would let that need overtake them. A monster would kill for the energy others provide. She wasn't there yet. She was stronger than that and I wouldn't let her become a monster.

No matter what Black Beetle says, he was wrong.

_What was this Symbiote thing anyway?_ He called her a Symbiote and she knew what it was. Maybe it was an alien race. Is this their home planet? Is Madison one of them?

I don't really know why she wouldn't tell me. She forgot to tell me a lot of things these days. I just wish she knew she could trust me. I trusted her. I always would no matter how many secrets she kept I knew she would come through for me. I may never understand her motives, but somehow she always made it back. I love her and I trust her. But I didn't understand her. Maybe that was the problem. She needed someone to understand. She had yet to let me.

I climbed to the top of that magnificent palace. Walking down hallways adorned with old tapestries, past rooms where it looked like people had just stopped eating and left. Dusty half eaten food sat there and glasses half full stayed untouched. Once people had lived here, not anymore.

I searched in every room only to find Madison on a balcony. Nightwing lay beside her, still unconscious. She must have dragged him the whole way here. I walked up to her, "What are you doing? Is Nightwing okay?"

"He's fine," She glanced down at him, but she wasn't really seeing him there. He was covered in sand and blood oozed from a spot on his head. I checked his pulse. It was weak, but he would be okay. I think Madison knew that. That's why she wasn't doing anything about him. She went back to staring out into horizon. More palaces of the lost civilization rose out of the sand. The wind blew the desert straight threw them as if to test if there was anybody home. There wasn't. "It used to be colder here." She said.

"You've been here before."

"I'm not sure. I have memories of this place, but they don't seem to be mine. Each one's is at a different height. If I was ever here I would have been little, a baby. The angle is too tall to be me."

"Analyzing your memories. You sound like Nightwing."

"Don't be so dense. Dick gets things done that way."

"Did you carry him the whole way up here?"

"Yes. I couldn't find you and he was hurt. Plus the boom-tube generator's broken. We're stuck here until he wakes up."

I guess she figured Nightwing could get us off the planet. Her tracking device was lost, taken by the Reach. I didn't have one. He was the more technically savvy of the three of us anyway. "Then maybe you can explain to me how we got here. Actually just explain everything seeing as we have time."

She feigned a smile, "I saw some stuff left over from the last inhabitants. And the water still works. We should get cleaned up and maybe find something to eat. I'm starved. And I'm sure Dick will too once he wakes up. I should probably cleanup his head. It's still bleeding."

"Madz, tell me."

She turned and stared at me with her intense blue eyes. "I will, after. I promise."

"I've heard that before."

~0~

Madison cleaned up Nightwing while I found some food. We'd changed clothes simply because ours were shredded especially Madison's. I'm not complaining though. The ones we found were the softest things I have ever had the pleasure to touch. The only bad thing was they looked like dresses.

"If you tell anyone," I said to her as she ruffled though the food I'd found, "I swear I'll—"

"If I tell anyone about your dress, you'll what? You won't kill me you wouldn't even threaten to kill me." She smiled taking a bite of bread that didn't seem to have molded. "You love me too much."

"Yeah." I said then Nightwing walked in.

"Oh hey, Dick. You look nice." She changed the subject.

"How did I get in these clothes?"

"You didn't put them on?" I asked.

Madison took a piece of bread to him. "I put them on you. Your suit was dirty and full of sand. Plus I had to clean the gash on your side from Black Beetle. It was getting infected."

"How did you—?" He looked worried as he took the bread. It kind of concerned me how she got his pants on too.

"Dick, I was trained by Wonder Woman, the rest of the Amazons and Batman who also happens to be my father. I think I know how to change your pants without looking." She smirked. Is it wrong that I kind of find that hot.

"Oh. Um okay. Where are we?" He asked.

"Symbiosis." She answered without skipping a beat.

Dick and I just looked at each other. "How do you?"

"My memories."

"The ones that aren't yours?"

"What memories?" Dick asked.

"She was talking about them before," I said. "You were unconscious."

"Do you want me to explain or are you two going to keep asking questions?"

~0~

"Look, I don't know everything. All I know is what the Reach told me and I'm not sure I can trust that. They said I am a Symbiote: A race of mimickers they conquered years ago. This was their planet. The Reach found nothing of value here so after killing everyone off they left. I'm not sure how we got here. I must have changed the coordinates when I had the boom-tube controller. I wasn't exactly with it.

Black beetle knew what would happen if I took in that much energy and now I do too. It's like a daze you can't get out of. I could barely control myself. But I'm sure it could've been worse. The more power I get the more I lose control."

"You don't know that." I said laying a hand on her shoulder.

"I do, Roy. I felt it. I felt the madness creeping in and it wasn't me. How else do you explain these memories?"

"You mean someone else was controlling your body?" Dick asked.

"Yes and no. I mean there's something else there that I don't know about. We don't know anything about what I am anymore. We know nothing about the Symbiote race or what they could do. Whoever did is long gone."

"Batman knows." Dick suggested. "He's your father. Wouldn't he know?"

"If he is my biological father. Even so, why would he tell me? He's kept so many secrets from both of us, Dick. How can we trust him?"

"Just because he keeps secrets from us doesn't mean we can't trust him. He does it to protect us."

"Is that what he's brainwashed you to believe."

"No, it's what he does. It's what all three of us do."

"I don't do that." Madison crossed her arms.

"What got you into this mess anyway? Keeping a secret from Roy?"

"It was necessary." She pouted. She was more like Batman than she cared to admit. Her hatred of him drove her to become more like him.

"That is exactly what Batman would say. When we get back—talk to him."

"If we get back," I huffed. Granted I was angry for all the secrets she kept too. But making her mad wasn't going to help us off this rock.

Madison saw her outlet and took it, "Roy's right. My issues aren't the real problem right now."

"This doesn't get you off the hook," I said. "We get back, you're talking to Batman."

~0~

Nightwing jerry-rigged a homing beacon to call the League. He placed it on the balcony. Then the three of us settled in for the long haul. Nigthwing said **IF **the League picks up the signal it's going to take a while for them to get here. And that's if they pick it up.

We all picked rooms and made ourselves at home. The sun didn't seem to completely set here. It hung onto the horizon like a magnet on a refrigerator.

Madison and I chose a room that appeared to be the royal suite, a plush four-poster bed, royal purple everywhere. She said she remembered it. I plopped right into the bed, tired hardly began to describe me. She mulled around the room, checking out every nook and cranny as if she hadn't seen it in years. "This was hers…or at least whosever memories I have."

"She must have lived here. I wonder who she is."

"Me too." She yawned.

I patted the bed beside me. "You're tired, come to bed." She came over and climbed in the bed next to me. I wrapped the arm I'd lost to Sportsmaster then got back around her. She put a hand on my chest, playing with the fabric. It was just like that night she climbed in my window so many years ago. I wonder what she was thinking this time. "We'll figure this out."

"Yeah," She replied.

"You don't sound very confident."

She gave a you-don't-know look. "You weren't there in that prison. You don't know what happened to me in there."

I looked up at the ceiling, "I've been through torture, Madz. More than you could ever know."

She raised an eyebrow at me. It was both concerned and questioning. "When?"

I took a deep breath. I had never told her this. I knew how upset it would make her if she knew, but now seemed like the right time. I would probably end up telling her eventually. _Here it goes…_ "I was awake."

"Awake for what?" Her blue eyes gazed up at me. I almost could bear it.

"Awake when Sportsmaster—for what he did to us." Her eyes grew wider and wider as I spoke. "You blacked out, but I saw it all. Even if I hadn't, just seeing you lying there in pain and looking at how much pain I was in. Madison, you have to know, that's how I feel every single time you disappear."

She pushed away from me, but her hand clung to my chest. "Roy, I just wanted to protect you."

"I know. That's our problem. We just want to protect each other so something like Sportsmaster never happens to us again." I put my hand to her cheek and she held it there, feeling my warmth. "Never again." I moved in morphing her lips to mine. What happened to us was unfortunate and terrible, but it made us stronger. It brought us together. She was mine, even on this desolate planet. With her I could feel truly free. No matter what happened to her in that prison I knew we could get past it.

I kissed her ears and down her neck. I pushed a stray piece of black hair behind her ear and just stared into her beautiful face. I wanted every curve of her cheek bones, every blush of red that stained her face. _I wouldn't mind, _I thought_, if things stayed this way forever._


End file.
